How to write a good harem?

[pelpelen]

I came across a therad that asked opinions about harems and they were of course massively negative with me included.
But i have been writing too much potential love interest and not enough stories so...
How do i write a non cringy harem with a good dynamic?

So far i've only been planning on 3 people to not make it too complicated and to make them actually have unique features.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I came across a therad that asked opinions about harems and they were of course massively negative with me included.
But i have been writing too much potential love interest and not enough stories so...
How do i write a non cringy harem with a good dynamic?

So far i've only been planning on 3 people to not make it too complicated and to make them actually have unique features.

have you ever read a romance novel? Okay, just do exactly that.
And then add multiple female leads over time.

 

[ForestDweller]

For me, I want every girl should have unique personalities and good character development. I want them to be interesting people on their own and not just dolls for the mc to have lovey dovey moments with.

That's how I've been writing my harem anyway.

Though people might want more, like a serious, non-perverted, non-dense MC or no ecchi scenes or tsunderes.

 

[Askun]

make the harem with one female characters. That be good.

Anyway.

Well, a good harem story usually happens in the harem. Where a bunch of woman fight for the emperor favor. Just imagine that scenario and turn the emperor into a school boy.
And don't copy paste the girl.

 

[lnv]

I came across a therad that asked opinions about harems and they were of course massively negative with me included.
But i have been writing too much potential love interest and not enough stories so...
How do i write a non cringy harem with a good dynamic?

So far i've only been planning on 3 people to not make it too complicated and to make them actually have unique features.

That's easy, a good harem is a dead harem!

The sad reality is harem genre is in general aimed at horny teens, who could care less as long as they get lots of waifus

But in my opinion if you really want to make a harem decent, each character has to be their own person with their own life that doesn't circle around the MC as their sole purpose of existence (They can have a mutual goal or need the MC for that goal, but the goal should come first). They also should not be completely useless, MC doesn't have to be the best at everything. Harem members should have purposes outside their arc, unless they spit from the MC. They also shouldn't just all fall in love with the MC at first sight or just cause he saved them. You know, relationship development! Both between the MC and other harem members. If harem exists, then MC shouldn't be the only one in the world with a harem, nothing makes me eye roll then being told harem is normal in their world, yet no kings or dukes have harems. And no evil guy with a harem who wants one of MCs harem member as their 7th wife to show how anyone but MC having a harem is evil. If the harem member is suppose to be strong, don't make them damsel in distress every time.

End of the day, every harem member should make you feel like I'd want to write a story about them even without the MC. Cause one mistake people make is assume to make harem good, all you need is character development. But you know what? Nothing sucks more than wasting everyone's time on boring characters. Characters should be developed because their story is worth telling, not because one needs to check a checkbox.

And most importantly, they must all worship cats!

 

[Chaos_Sinner777]

Try to make actual characters instead of limited edition collectable blow up dolls? Kek.

 

[ArcadiaBlade]

Every story is like playing a game of Jenga. Each stack requires you to fit them to the point where each block fits and doesn't topple everything down. A harem is basically that but a more precise and easily thin jenga block that can topple down with just a few breaths.

An example of a good harem I look at, comes from how the heroines are put in the story, not because they fit in the genre or the fact that they have 'big' personalities. It is the fact that your stories require you to fit them into the perspective of the plot, every action involves each girl that revolves in the story while at the same time. But even if you ended their own story, you need to create a growth which not only involves her but also the interactions with the other harem members while at the same time put the influence of the girl, the other harem members and the MC itself.

One example I have is the typical cliche of a princess which is from a royalty and is a potential harem member.

Give her personality which either compliments the MC's growth or hinders and diverge his growth while at the same time put into the perspective as to why it involves the MC. Then, create a storyline where it involves the MC's goal, her perspective and eventually the end of her story which will then start her journey to find a new goal while following the MC.

Add the interactions with the harem members and you basically passed the Basic test to write a harem.

Yup, you heard me right. This is just a basic step to write a harem.

Its mainly because the complexity of the character revolves around how specific you want that character to be, implementing or diverging her existence to the MC's goal would basically involve around a more complex plot writing which writers usually tend to understand in order to write a good harem novel.

I would continue writing but Post-nut clarity had basically run out which my intelligence might go potato so thats all for now.

 

[Anon2024]

To write a good harem you need to understand the weakness of a harem.

too many characters dilute the depth of other characters, or takes too much screen time away from the plot.

some readers like that, some readers don’t.

 

[K5Rakitan]

Reverse it

 

[CupcakeNinja]

takes too much screen time away from the plot.

shit like that is easy to get around when the plot revolves heavily around the characters. One of the reviews i got said something like that too...
"The MC is the whole show" was the line i remember in particular. I mean, that story had a good amount of flaws and things that weren't developed. Even if people asked about it, i'd always be the first to admit it's a fucking flaming tire lol. But the MC saves it, i guess. Least, that's what I've been told. The guy is just a crazy son of a bitch and people loved his antics. Plus i enjoyed writing him fucking around just doing whatever without the slightest concern for consequence.

Anyway, since it just revolved around him, i didn't really need to do much plot-wise. In fact the original plot i had in mind fell apart solely because his personality made what should've been a very vanilla story into the shitstorm it became. Didn't help that i was smoking weed while writing, either...In fact the entire plot just became mainly centered around those consequences he didn't care about. Or things he did while drugged out of his mind.

 

[TotallyHuman]

carefully

 

[Silver_Sky]

It has to be small, never over 6-7, and they all have to be strong or relevant and constantly in the plot. They have to have personality, they gotta be self reliant, reliable and at least semi-smart. Missing these your harem is going to be terrible.
Basically make the readers REMEMBER THEIR NAMES and you should be fine.
If you have trouble remembering their looks, likes, dislikes, hobbies, fav food, fav color and ambitions you got too many and need to cut them down.

 

[Anon2024]

shit like that is easy to get around when the plot revolves heavily around the characters. One of the reviews i got said something like that too...
"The MC is the whole show" was the line i remember in particular. I mean, that story had a good amount of flaws and things that weren't developed. Even if people asked about it, i'd always be the first to admit it's a fucking flaming tire lol. But the MC saves it, i guess. Least, that's what I've been told. The guy is just a crazy son of a bitch and people loved his antics. Plus i enjoyed writing him fucking around just doing whatever without the slightest concern for consequence.

Anyway, since it just revolved around him, i didn't really need to do much plot-wise. In fact the original plot i had in mind fell apart solely because his personality made what should've been a very vanilla story into the shitstorm it became. Didn't help that i was smoking weed while writing, either...In fact the entire plot just became mainly centered around those consequences he didn't care about. Or things he did while drugged out of his mind.

I mean if you're writing for SH that's good enough.
If you want to write a master piece... I dunno. It's possible but there would need to be consideration for a delicate balance since the MC could tire out the readers.

Generally, if a story doesn't have good plot I eventually grow tired of the MC no matter how awesome he or she seems at the beginning of the story, but some people like repetitive shit... whatever sells I guess.

 

[vaurwyn]

I came across a therad that asked opinions about harems and they were of course massively negative with me included.
But i have been writing too much potential love interest and not enough stories so...
How do i write a non cringy harem with a good dynamic?

So far i've only been planning on 3 people to not make it too complicated and to make them actually have unique features.

Well, a good harem would be a story about intrigue and manipulation.
A normal couple, one guy one girl, where both parties are trying their hardest to make it work, is already so hard to keep stable, so the fantasy of a harem where evryone loves each other and is totaly chill about everything is impossible.
What I would be interested in reading would be a story of a strong man collecting beuities, and then "managing" the harem. He is by definition outnumbered by his wives, so he has to make sure they don't ally together. A tale of manipulation, turning one wife against the other, keeping the harem divided, encouraging petty squables so that he can place himself above them all.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

I mean if you're writing for SH that's good enough.
If you want to write a master piece... I dunno. It's possible but there would need to be consideration for a delicate balance since the MC could tire out the readers.

Generally, if a story doesn't have good plot I eventually grow tired of the MC no matter how awesome he or she seems at the beginning of the story, but some people like repetitive shit... whatever sells I guess.

buddy, i dont think most people here are looking to be the next Tolkien. They usually just write as a hobby. Same here. Besides, that story was just the one i decided to throw all fucks to the wind for anyway. That first time i got high while writing it, it was already too late to turn back. Later stories i took a bit more seriously tho.

Unfortunately, update speed on any of them is abysmal even for the two I'm mainly focusing on.

They always start out pretty great, but then i don't carry them on long enough to actually get the plot in real motion...i suppose no matter how godly my writing skills while sober are, it doesn't matter if I'm too much of a lazy cunt to update. SIgh. The heavens were jealous of my prowess and laid the curse of lethargy upon my person.

 

[Twin]

writing harem is no different writing any other genre. The plot must be good. The only difference is that the deutarogonists and sometimes antagonists become love interests as the plot progressses. So if you want good waifu learn to write good deutarogonist characters.

A good example of this would be rem from re:zero (deutarogonist). Also the white witch (antagonist)

 

[Mortrexo]

What I would be interested in reading would be a story of a strong man collecting beuities, and then "managing" the harem. He is by definition outnumbered by his wives, so he has to make sure they don't ally together. A tale of manipulation, turning one wife against the other, keeping the harem divided, encouraging petty squables so that he can place himself above them all.

You just described the typical Chinese Emperor Harem, lol.

Anyway, in my opinion, as others have said, a good Harem should have relevant characters that are easily recognizable, with different qualities that may attract the reader, and most importantly, not too big. You have to make the reader feel attached to them and not treat them just like trophies.

 

[galaxy123]

To write a harem story, you have to build up the heroines' personalities properly: "Why do they love the MC? How do they love the MC and is it reasonable?"
Also you have to create a protagonist to deserve the love of the girls.

Remember don't create a cliché and cringy harem. That's taboo.

You can refer to "The world god only knows", best harem ever.

 

[Kilolo]

have you ever read a romance novel? Okay, just do exactly that.
And then add multiple female leads over time.

bad idea, I swear.

this is bad idea.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

Dunno. I'll let you know if I figure it out.